I Had a Dream Last Night

By Dennis

Like most dreams, it seemed so real. You wake up wondering, did that really happen? It started off real enough, I was in bed asleep but then I was awakened. Awakened by the voice of my father. He beckoned to get up, that it was time to go. I opened my eyes, saw him and doubted my senses. I knew he was dead for twenty-nine years but there he stood, beside my bed no smile, no emotion of any sort. “Come on it’s time to go.” I got up, not knowing what to think. He led me out of the room. Somehow I was now fully dressed. “Where are we going?” I asked. He didn’t answer.

He led me to a somewhat surreal place. “Here you must learn, experience, and appreciate. Nothing is like you thought, learned, or even imagined. This is what most call the afterlife but nothing can be further from the truth. Here we all make our own realities. Nothing is real and everything is real. Image what you may, but know that right near you is somebody who has a different viewpoint. Yours is not the same as mine despite you being my son. Yours cannot interrupt or interfere with anyone else’s.”

“Make your own world, your own reality, your own place. You may be here for a long time, perhaps eternity or just a short time depending on what you want. I can guide you no further. Go forth and choose carefully.”

I awoke and checked if I was still alive, if my father was still there. The answer was yes and no. Then I reconsidered all that I thought I knew, all that I believed in, all that I feared or took solace in, and wondered if it was just a dream.